Map of Romania with Transylvania in yellow
Transylvania (Romanian: Ardeal or Transilvania; Hungarian: Erdély;
German: Siebenbürgen (help·info); Bulgarian: Трансилвания; Serbian:
Трансилванија / Transilvanija or Ердељ /
Erdelj; Latin: Transsilvania) is
a historical region in central and western Romania.
In its early history, the territory of present-day Transylvania belonged to Dacia, the
Roman Empire, the Hun Empire and the
Gepid Kingdom[1]. As a
political entity, Transylvania is mentioned from the 11th century (after the Hungarian conquest) as a voivodship, part of the Kingdom of Hungary. It then successively
became an autonomous principality under Ottoman
suzerainty in 1571, a part of the Habsburg
Monarchy in 1711 (Austria-Hungary after 1867), and a part of the Kingdom of Romania after World War I.
Transylvania's main city, Cluj-Napoca, is today considered to be the region's capital,
although Transylvania was also ruled from Alba Iulia during its vassalage to the Ottoman Empire, and from Sibiu, where the Habsburg governor was located from 1711 until 1848. The seat of the Transylvanian Diet was itself moved to Sibiu for some time in the 19th century.
Etymology
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Transylvania was first referred to in a Medieval Latin document in 1075 as Ultra
silvam, meaning "beyond the forest" (ultra meaning "beyond, on the other side" and the accusative case of sylva (sylvam) meaning "wood or forest"). That name was later changed to
"Transylvania" (trans also meaning "across, over, beyond").
The German name Siebenbürgen means "seven fortresses", after the seven (ethnic
German) Transylvanian Saxons' cities in the region (Kronstadt, Schäßburg, Mediasch,
Hermannstadt, Mühlbach, Bistritz
and Klausenburg). The Hungarian name Erdély is derived from Erdő-elve meaning
"beyond the forest" in Hungarian (a meaning first referred to in its Medieval Latin version in a 12th century document -
Gesta Hungarorum).
The origin of the Romanian name Ardeal is controversial. Ardeal - as
Ardeliu - was first referred to in a document in 1432. It may be a borrowing from the
Khazar “Ardil-land” (Hebrew „Eretz Ardil”, „ארדיל”), first mentioned in 960. It could be likewise borrowed from the Celtic "Arduenna" (forest), reflected in other names such as
Arda, Ardal, Ardistan, Ardiche, Ardennes, Ardelt, Ardilla or from the Sanskrit Har-Deal. Lastly, it may be a borrowing
of the Hungarian name Erdély, as is the Romani name Ardyalo - in old Hungarian, Erdély was pronounced as Erdél. The initial
Hungarian e- occasionally changes to a in Romanian (cf. Hung.
egres "gooseberry" and Egyed, which became agriş and Adjud in
Romanian). See also other languages.
History
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Ancient History: Dacia and the Roman Empire
The kingdom of Dacia was in existence at least as early as the beginning of the 2nd century BC
and it reached its maximum extent under Burebista. The area now constituting Transylvania was
the political center of Dacia where several important fortified cities, among them
Sarmizegetusa, near today's Hunedoara were built.
In 101-102 and 105-106, Trajan, the Roman emperor,
fought a military campaign against the Dacians, known as the Dacian Wars. He managed to
vanquish them and after the suicide of Decebalus parts of Dacia were incorporated into the
Roman province Dacia Trajana. The Romans built mines, access roads and forts to protect them.
Colonists from other Roman provinces were brought in to settle the land and cities like Apulum (now Alba Iulia) and Napoca (now Cluj-Napoca) appeared. The Dacians
rebelled frequently and due to increasing pressure from them and the Visigoths in 271, the
Emperor Aurelian abandoned Dacia Trajana.
The Middle Ages
The former Dacia Trajana province was controlled by the Visigoths and Carpians until they
were in turn displaced and subdued by the Huns in 376, under the leadership of Attila. After the disintegration of Attila's empire, the rules of Gepids of Avars succeeded. The region was also influenced during this period by massive Slavic migration. At the beginning of the 9th century, Transylvania, along with eastern Pannonia, was incorporated into the First Bulgarian Empire
followed by Magyar tribes linking it to the Principality of Hungary.
The Kingdom of Hungary
The early 11th century was marked by the conflict between King
Stephen I of Hungary and his maternal uncle Gyula,
the ruler of Transylvania. After the defeat of the latter, Transylvania became part of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Transylvanian
Roman Catholic bishopric and the comitatus system were organised. By the 12th century the Szeklers were established in eastern and southeastern Transylvania as border guards and in the 12th and 13th
centuries, the areas in the south and northeast were settled by German colonists called
Transylvanian Saxons. In 1241-1242, during the Mongol invasion, Transylvania was devastated and a large portion of the population perished.
In 1285, there was another Mongol invasion in Transylvania, led by Nogai Khan.
Transylvania was organized according to the system of Estates, which were
privileged groups (universitates) with power and influence in socio-economic and political life, being nonetheless
organized according to certain ethnic criteria as well. The first Estate was the lay and ecclesiastic aristocracy, ethnically
heterogeneous, but undergoing a process of homogenization around its Hungarian nucleus. The other Estates were Saxons, Szeklers
and Romanians (or Vlachs - Universitas
Valachorum), all with an ethnic and ethno-linguistic basis (Universis nobilibus, Saxonibus, Syculis et
Olachis). The general assembly (congregatio generalis) of the four Estates had mainly supra-legislative powers in
Transylvania, but it sometimes took measures regarding order in the country, relationships between the privileged, military
issues, etc.
After the Decree of Turda (1366), which openly called for "to expel or to
exterminate in this country malefactors belonging to any nation, especially Romanians" in Transylvania, the only possibility
for Romanians to retain or access nobility was through conversion to Roman
Catholicism. Some Orthodox Romanian nobles converted, being integrated in the
Hungarian nobility, but the most of them declined, thus losing their status and privileges.
In some border regions (Maramureş, Ţara
Haţegului) the Orthodox Romanian ruling class of nobilis kenezius (classed as lower
nobility in the Kingdom as a whole) had the same rights as the Hungarian nobilis conditionarius. Nevertheless, because of
the gradual loss of a nobility of its own, Romanians were no longer able to keep their Universitas Valachorum.
After the suppression of the Budai Nagy Antal-revolt in 1437, the political
system was based on Unio Trium Nationum (The Union of the Three
Nations). According to the Union, which was explicitly directed against serfs and other
peasants, society was ruled by three privileged Estates or nations (Nationes), the nobility (mostly Magyars), the
Szekelys, and the Saxon burghers.
A key figure to emerge in Transylvania in the first half of the 15th century was John
Hunyadi. His subsequent military exploits against the Ottoman Empire brought him
further status as the governor of Hungary in 1446 and papal
recognition as the Prince of Transylvania in 1448. John Hunyadi was also the
father of Matthias Corvinus of Hungary.
Independent principality
The 16th century was marked by the struggle between the Ottoman Empire and the
Habsburg Empire. After Sultan Suleiman
I overran central Hungary and established there the Turkish rule (see Ottoman
Hungary), Transylvania became a semi-independent region where Austrian and Turkish influences vied for supremacy for
nearly two centuries.
Due to the fact that Transylvania was now beyond the reach of Catholic
religious authority, Protestant preaching such as Lutheranism and Calvinism were able to flourish. In 1568 the Edict of
Turda proclaimed four religious expressions -Catholic, Lutheranism, Calvinism and Unitarianism - as "accepted" (receptae), while
Orthodoxy, which was the confession of the Romanian population, was proclaimed
as "tolerated" (tolerata). The Edict of Turda is considered by mostly Hungarian historians as the first legal guarantee of
religious freedom in Christian Europe.
The Báthory family came to power in 1571 and ruled Transylvania as princes under the
Ottomans, and briefly under Habsburg suzerainty, until 1600. The latter period of
their rule saw a four-sided conflict in Transylvania involving the Transylvanians, the Austrians, the Ottomans, and the Wallachian voivod Michael the Brave. The latter gained control of Transylvania in 1599 after the Battle of Şelimbăr and succeeded in uniting the three principalities of Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania (the three main parts of present-day
Romania). The union did not last long, however, as Michael was assassinated by mercenaries under
the command of the Habsburg general Giorgio Basta in August 1601. Basta swore allegiance
to the Habsburg Emperor, Rudolph II and by 1604 reclaimed the principality
for Catholicism through the Counter Reformation.
The Calvinist magnate of Bihar county
Stephen Bocskai managed to obtain, through the Peace of Vienna (June 23, 1606), religious liberty and
political autonomy, the restoration of all confiscated estates, the repeal of all "unrighteous" judgments, and a complete
retroactive amnesty for all Hungarians in Royal Hungary, as well as his own recognition as
independent sovereign prince of an enlarged Transylvania. Under Bocskai's successors Transylvania passed through a period of
flourishment both for the religious movements and for the arts and culture. It was one of the few European countries where
Roman Catholics, Calvinists, Lutherans, and Unitarians lived in mutual tolerance, but
Orthodox Romanians were denied equal
rights.
Habsburg Empire
After the defeat of the Ottomans at the Battle of Vienna in 1683, the Habsburgs
gradually began to impose their rule on the formerly autonomous Transylvania. Apart from strengthening the central government and
administration, the Habsburgs also promoted the Roman Catholic Church, both as a uniting force and also as an instrument to
reduce the influence of the Protestant nobility. In addition, they tried to persuade Romanian Orthodox clergymen to join the
Greek (Byzantine Rite) Catholic Church in union with
Rome. As a response to this policy, several peaceful movements of the Romanian Orthodox population advocated for freedom
of worship for all the Transylvanian population, most notably being the movements led by Visarion Sarai, Nicolae Oprea Miclăuş
and Sofronie of Cioara.
From 1711 onward, the princes of Transylvania were replaced with Austrian governors and in 1765 Transylvania was declared a
grand principality.
The revolutionary year 1848 was marked by a great struggle
between the Hungarians, the Romanians and the Habsburg Empire. Warfare erupted in November with both Romanian and Saxon troops,
under Austrian command, battling the Hungarians led by the Polish general Józef Bem. He
carried out a sweeping offensive through Transylvania, and Avram Iancu managed to retreat to
the harsh terrain of the Apuseni Mountains, mounting a guerrilla campaign on Bem's forces. After the intervention by the armies of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, Bem's army was defeated decisively at the Battle of Temesvár
(Timişoara) on 9 August 1849.
Having quashed the revolution, Austria imposed a repressive regime on Hungary, ruled Transylvania directly through a military
governor and granted citizenship to the Romanians. However, in the Ausgleich of 1867, which
established the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the special status of Transylvania ended and it
was reincorporated into the Kingdom of Hungary. The new unity of Austria-Hungary
created a process of Magyarization affecting Transylvania's Romanians and German
Saxons.
Austria-Hungary
The 300-year long separate status of Transylvania came to an end after the Compromise from 1867. On 20 June 1867, the Diet was dissolved by royal decree, and an ordinance abrogated the legislative acts of the
Sibiu provincial assembly. The department of the interior inherited the responsibilities of the
Transylvanian Gubernium, and the government reserved the right to name Transylvania's royal
magistrates as well the Saxon bailiff of the Universitas Saxorum. Hungarian legislation also came to supersede the Austrian code
of civil procedure, penal law, commercial law, and regulations for bills of exchange.
Romania
Since the Austro-Hungarian empire had begun to disintegrate after the end of the
First World War, the nationalities living inside proclaimed their independence from the
empire. The 1228-member National Assembly of Romanians of Transylvania and Hungary, headed by leaders of Transylvania's
Romanian National Party and Social Democratic
Party, passed a resolution calling for unification of all Romanians in a single state on 1
December in Alba Iulia. This was approved by the National Council of the Germans from
Transylvania and the Council of the Danube Swabians from the Banat, on 15 December in Mediaş. In
response, the Hungarian General Assembly of Cluj reaffirmed the loyalty of Hungarians from
Transylvania to Hungary on December 22, 1918. (See also: Union of Transylvania with Romania)
The Treaty of Versailles placed Transylvania under the sovereignty of
Romania, an ally of the Triple Entente, and after the defeat in 1919 of Béla Kun's Hungarian Soviet Republic by the Romanian army,
the Treaties of St. Germain (1919) and Trianon (signed in June 1920) further elaborated the status of Transylvania and defined the new border
between the states of Hungary and Romania. King Ferdinand I of Romania and Queen
Maria of Romania were crowned at Alba Iulia in 1922 as King of all Romania.
In August 1940, the second Vienna Award gave the northern half of Transylvania to
Hungary but after the Treaty of Paris (1947)
at the end of the Second World War the territory was returned to Romania. The post-WWII borders with Hungary, agreed on at the Treaty of Paris
were identical with those set out in 1920.
Historical coat of arms of Transylvania
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The Diet of 1659 codified the representation of the privileged nations in Transylvania's
coat of arms. It depicts:
- A black turul on a blue background, representing the medieval nobility, which was primarily
Magyar.
- The Sun and the Moon representing the Székelys.
- Seven red towers on a yellow background representing the seven fortified cities of the Transylvanian Saxons
(The red dividing band was originally not part of the coat of arms.)
Geography and ethnography
Romanian ethnographic regions (Transylvania-red; Maramureş-blue; Sǎtmar-green; Crişana-yellow; Banat-purple)
Hungarian ethnographic regions (King's Pass - yellow; Western Transylvania - green; Eastern Transylvania - blue)
The Transylvanian plateau, 300 to 500 metres (1,000-1,600 feet) high, is drained by the Mureş, Someş, Criş, and
Olt rivers, as well as other tributaries of the Danube. This
core of historical Transylvania roughly corresponds with nine counties of modern Romania. Other areas to the west and north,
which also united with Romania in 1918 (inside the border established by peace treaties in 1919-20), are since that time widely
considered part of Transylvania.
See also Administrative divisions of the Kingdom of
Hungary. In common reference, the Western border of Transylvania has come to be identified with the present
Romanian-Hungarian border, settled in the Treaty of Trianon, although geographically the two are
not identical.
Administrative divisions
Map of Romania with Transylvania. The light yellow areas correspond to the core territory of the
historic Principality. The historical regions of
Crişana and
Maramureş (see also
Partium), and the Romanian section of the
Banat, marked in dark yellow, are also considered part of Transylvania today.
[citation needed]
The historical region covers 16 present-day counties (Romanian: judeţ) which include nearly 103 600 km² of central and
northwest Romania. The 16 counties are:
The most populous cities are:
Population
According to the 2002 census, Transylvania has a population of 7,221,733, with a large Romanian majority (74.69%). In
addition, there are also sizeable Hungarian (19.60%), Roma (3.39%), German (0.73%) and Serb (0.1%) communities. [1] [2] Fourteen of the 16 counties have Romanian majorities, and two
(Covasna and Harghita) are mostly Hungarian.
The percentage of Romanians has increased since the union of Transylvania with Romania (1918).
This is due to three processes: emigration of minority populations (1,000,000 Germans, Hungarians and Jews have left the country
since WWII[citation needed]), assimilation, and internal migration within Romania (estimates show that
between 1945 and 1977, some 630,000 people have moved from the Regat to
Transylvania, and 250,000 from Transylvania to the Regat, most notably to Bucharest).[3] The assimilation process slowed down during the first stages of
the communist era (see Hungarian Autonomous Province) and then accelerated
under the Ceauşescu regime.
Culture
For people connected to Transylvania's cultural life, see: List of
Transylvanians.
Economy
Transylvania is rich in mineral resources, notably lignite, iron, lead, manganese,
gold, copper, natural gas,
salt, and sulfur.
There are large iron and steel, chemical, and textile
industries. Stock raising, agriculture, wine production, and
fruit growing are important occupations. Timber is another valuable resource.
Transylvania accounts for around 35% of Romania's GDP, and has a GDP per capita (PPP) of around $11,500, around 10% higher
than the Romanian average.
Tourist attractions
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Braşov Council Square (Piaţa Sfatului)
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Transylvania in fiction
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In much of the Western world, Transylvania is famously the home of Count Dracula from
Bram Stoker's Dracula.
References
Further reading
- Patrick Leigh Fermor, Between The Woods And The
Water (New York Review of Books Classics, 2005; ISBN 1-59017-166-7). Fermor travelled across Transylvania in the
summer of 1934, and wrote about it in this account first published more than 50 years later, in 1986.
- Zoltán Farkas and Judit Sós, Transylvania Guidebook
External links
- RTI Radio - Radio Transsylvania International
- Hungarian Human Rights Foundation — Human Rights group
dedicated to preserving the rights of Transylvania's Hungarians
- Tolerant Transylvania - Why
Transylvania will not become another Kosovo, Katherine Lovatt, in Central Europe Review, Vol 1, No 14 27 September
1999.
- The History Of Transylvania And
The Transylvanian Saxons by Dr. Konrad Gündisch, Oldenburg, Germany
- (Hungarian) Transylvanian Webcatalogue
- (German) Historical Literature about Transilvania and
Neighbouring Territories by Klaus Popa, Germany
- Transylvania, its Products and its People, by Charles Boner, 1865
- (Hungarian) Transylvanian Family
History Database
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